Abbott, Reckitt cleared of liability in latest preterm formula case

Abbott and Reckitt unit Mead Johnson are not responsible for a young boy's debilitating intestinal disease, a jury found on Thursday in a lawsuit accusing them of failing to warn of their premature baby formulas' risks, a victory for the two companies following large losses in similar trials. The verdict followed a five-week trial in St. Louis, Missouri state court in which lawyers for plaintiff Kaine Whitfield had urged jurors to award more than $6.2 billion. The lawsuit, brought on Kaine's behalf by his mother, Elizabeth Whitfield, alleged that the companies failed to warn that their specialized formulas used by newborn intensive care units in hospitals could cause necrotizing enterocolitis, a disease that almost exclusively affects premature infants and has an estimated mortality rate of more than 20%.